Auburn's six home runs on Saturday weren't enough to overcome Texas A&M as the Aggies defeated the Tigers 11-9 at Plainsman Park.
With the loss, Auburn falls to 21-25 overall on the season. The Tigers are 7-19 in SEC play and are a game behind Texas A&M for 12th place in the SEC and a spot in the SEC Tournament.
"A four hour plus game will test your attention span," said head coach Butch Thompson. "I felt like we got to a point in the ballgame where either team was going to be really excited about winning this one and really disappointed about losing."
Starting pitcher Richard Fitts recorded the first two outs for Auburn in the top of the first before a single and two walks from Texas A&M loaded the bases. With the bases loaded, Texas A&M's Jordan Thompson singled to drive in two runs and give the Aggies an early 2-0 lead.
The Tigers responded in the bottom of the first with back-to-back-to-back home runs before the Aggies recorded their first out. The top of Auburn's order in Ryan Bliss, Tyler Miller and Rankin Woley all homered to start the bottom of the first.
After giving up back-to-back-to-back home runs in the bottom of the first, Texas A&M loaded the bases to start the second as they reached base with an error, walk and single.
The Aggies' Logan Sartori recorded an RBI single with the bases loaded to tie things up at 3-all in the second. After the RBI single, Mason Barnett replaced Fitts on the mound.
Barnett struck out the first batter he faced to record the first out of the inning, but a sacrifice fly gave the Aggies a 4-3 lead. After the sacrifice fly, Barnett struck out the next batter to end the top of the second.
Texas A&M made a pitching change of its own in the second inning as starting pitcher Chris Weber came out after one inning. Weber gave up four hits, four runs, two earned runs and walked three in his appearance.
Bryce Miller came in relief for the Aggies and pitched 3.1 innings. He gave up five hits, six runs, five earned runs, walked four and struck out four.
Steven Williams had his first home run of the day in the bottom of the third inning to tie the game up for Auburn. Williams homered twice on Saturday and was 2-for-5 on the day.
Like previous innings, Texas A&M loaded the bases in the fourth inning after a leadoff walk followed by two hit-by-pitches. The Aggies took advantage with the bases loaded as a wild pitch scored the first run of the inning before an RBI single scored another.
After giving up two runs in the fourth, Will Morrison replaced Barnett on the mound. Barnett pitched two innings in relief, giving up one hit, three runs and struck out three.
Morrison came in with runners on the corners and gave up an RBI single to give Texas A&M a 7-4 lead. After the RBI single, Morrison settled down and recorded three straight outs to end the inning.
In the bottom of the fourth, Auburn answered with two home runs to tie up the game 7-7. Tyler Miller had a solo shot with one out to make it a 7-5 game before Woley was walked which brought up Williams.
Williams' second homer of the game came in the fourth and was Auburn's sixth home run of the day.
After tying things up in the fourth, Auburn kept up the scoring in the fifth. Ryan Dyal was hit by a pitch, and Bliss was walked with one out before Texas A&M went to its bullpen.
The Aggies replaced Bryce Miller in the bottom of the fifth with Joseph Menefee. He pitched 4.2 innings and picked up the win for Texas A&M. Menefee gave up three hits, one walk and struck out five batters.
Even with a pitching change, the Tigers got some runs on the board with a Tyler Miller RBI double followed by a passed ball that scored Ryan Bliss.
Heading into the sixth inning, Auburn led 9-7.
In the sixth, Texas A&M got a leadoff hit-by-pitch and advanced its runners to second with a groundout. After the groundout, a strikeout followed, and Morrison was one out away from ending the inning. But an RBI single cut Auburn's lead to one.
Morrison walked the next batter after the RBI single, and Blake Burkhalter came in for the Tigers. Burkhalter faced two batters on the day with one strikeout and forced a groundout.
After a leadoff strikeout in the seventh, Burkhalter was replaced on the mound with Brooks Fuller. Fuller walked the first batter he faced, and Carson Swilling replaced him.
Neither team scored a run in the seventh as Auburn led 9-8, but Texas A&M took advantage of Auburn's errors in the eighth to take back the lead.
Texas A&M led off the eighth with a single that was followed by a strikeout and a walk. After the walk to get runners on first and second, a wild pitch advanced them to second and third.
Swilling struck out the next batter and had two outs with runners on second and third. A fielding error by Bliss on the next batter brought both runners home for unearned runs.
After the fielding error brought home two runs, the Aggies scored one more on an RBI single that the baserunner attempted to turn into a double but was out at second to end the inning.
Texas A&M led 11-9 after the eighth inning, and Auburn was held scoreless for the final two frames.
Auburn and Texas A&M will square off in the series finale at 1 p.m. CST Sunday at Plainsman Park.
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Jake Weese, senior in journalism with a minor in history, is The Plainsman's sports editor.
